Sweeping Or Skydiving? When Counting Calories It's All The Same

Skydiving and vacuuming burn the same number of calories. So what'll it be, thrills or a clean carpet?

Mary McLain
/ NPR

Originally published on July 2, 2015 1:29 pm

Sure, playing in the women's World Cup burns a lot more energy than watching the women's World Cup. But the number of calories expended in sports and daily activities isn't always so obvious.

To figure it out, we dove into this database compiled by Arizona State University. It charts the energy expenditure for hundreds of activities, from mainstream ("bicycling, leisure, 5.5 mph") to obscure ("caulking, chinking log cabin").